Botswana’s Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs is to address the lengthy immigration queues at Maun Airport due to a shortage of immigration officers.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister, Edwin Batshu, revealed this week that the Department of Immigration would increase manpower at the airport.

Grant Woodrow, Wilderness Safaris Botswana MD, has raised the issue of tourists arriving at the airport and having to standing in queues for long periods to clear immigration.

Dave Marsh, Tourism Update Publisher, recently travelled through the airport, where he saw international tourists waiting up to an hour to be processed. “These are tourists who have travelled far and are, on average, the highest spending tourists in the world, paying roughly $1 000 sharing, to stay in a tent.”

In another issue, Botswanan tourism operators have called for the scrapping of a transit visa for tourists who pass through Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport. Minister Batshu has promised to engage the South African government through the appropriate diplomatic channels, and said issues such as transit visas were required in the interests of security at hosts’ countries.

Lily Rakorong, CEO of the Hotel and Tourism Association of Botswana, said international tourists had complained about the requirement for transit visas, describing it as “cumbersome”.